Senior Economist

Contract

This is a IPSA-10 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Personnel Services Agreement. It is normally internationally recruited only. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about IPSA-10 contracts.

Background

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and the contact details for three (3) most recent professional references this may include previous supervisors and peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Travel:

UNDP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only in the event that the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and excludes working from home arrangements.

Office/Unit/Project Description

UNDP Country Office Costa Rica is the UN agency in charge of technically leading the socioeconomic response to COVID-19 in Costa Rica. In order to contain the spread of the virus and ensure health systems’ capacity to respond, governments worldwide are having to make decisions about implementing policies such as social distancing, lockdowns, border closures, and quarantines. These decisions are all the more complicated in the developing world where governments lack capacity, resources are more scarce, higher shares of the population are at risk of falling into poverty.

An effective policy response to COVID-19 in this context must simultaneously: (1) defend health systems from collapse in order to minimize deaths from COVID-19; (2) protect independent workers who are losing their income during forced lockdowns; (3) protect employment, to protect employee’s labor incomes and ensure engines of productive activity are not turned down in a way that takes longer to restart them once the health crisis is over; and (4) find the sources to finance the additional expenditure required for (1), (2) and (3) ensuring fiscal responsibility. Governments must also act fast, making decisions under high levels of uncertainty and often without the ideal information at hand.

Governments are making hard decisions in real time under high levels of uncertainty and under the restrictions of available information. They are hard pressed for analytical work to help them shape policy on at least four fronts:

1. They must make sure that the safety net extended to protect households from falling into poverty while quarantines and other social distancing measures are in place are appropriate. They also need to protect employment and businesses, to prevent human capital destruction which is affecting disproportionately women, indigenous peoples, and populations in vulnerability situation, and to address domestic violence.

2. They must organize to live with COVID-19 while the level of vaccine administration allows herd immunity, which implies putting in place policies that allow economic activity to gradually restart based in a green and inclusive recovery, while ensuring the health systems’ response capacity is not compromised. Adequate policy sequencing will be critical for success.

3. They must plan how to help economic activity recovery at a good pace once the pandemic is under control.

4. They must prepare to address and solve systemic fragilities evidenced by COVID-19, that have resulted in a limited response capacity. In addition to difficulties in coordinating activity across different agencies and levels of government, the most obvious of these being: (1) challenged health systems; (2) informal labor markets and social protection systems facing financial sustainability issues; (3) deficient tax systems resulting in insufficient spending capacity, and high level of external debt; and (4) unequal access to public utilities and Internet services.

UNDP assessment tools and policy analyses must be put at the service of the shaping of policy. With strengthened internal capacity UNDP-Costa Rica will continue to the a key interlocutors for governments in all issues pertaining development.

Institutional Arrangement

Depending on the assigned deliverables, the consultant will work under the direct guidance of the UNDP Resident Representative. The person will work under the RR supervision and will interact at the senior management level with occasional participation in management meetings.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Senior Economist, will have the following responsibilities:

• Enhance UNDP-Costa Rica’s capacity to produce policy oriented analytical work.
• Follow country-level policy decisions to mitigate negative impacts of COVID-19.
• Produce country-level rigorous analytical work -quantitative and qualitative- to support Costa Rica CO management and counterparts on the analysis of policy response to COVID-19.
• Accompany the UNDP and the United Nations Country Team in Costa Rica on issues related to the analysis of COVID-19 socio-economic impact and policy response in the framework of the Socioeconomic Response Plan (SERP) for the country. Accompanying include written/verbal reporting of outcome meetings.
• Work in close coordination with Economist from RC office.
• Work in close coordination with RBLAC Chief Economist, as part of UNDP LAC Economists Network. And with the RBLAC Regional Hub members of the UNDP LAC Economists Network.
• Contribute to sub-regional, regional and inter-agency initiatives related to development/economic issues; including the Regional Human Development Report.

All these responsibilities will be discharged under the framework of both the Assessment of the Socioecomic Impacts of COVID-19 and the United Nations Response Plan to them (SERP) in Costa Rica.

Competencies

UN CORE VALUES AND COMPETENCIES

Professionalism: Shows pride in work and achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Communication:Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients " and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

Master’s degree in Economics is required or Ph.D desirable.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in applied policy-oriented economic research and analysis. Experience in gender mainstreaming within economic modeling (2 years).

Required skills

Previous work experience processing official households and firm-level surveys desirable. Experience in rigorous country-level analytical work supporting policies for job creation on circular/green economy is an asset. Experience in high-level policy advice desirable. Desired Skills and competencies

Team-work oriented, Proactive Commitment to Continuous Learning and Technological Awareness,Planning and Organizing.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Command of English and Spanish, with excellent written English required.